This invention is directed to the achievement of an improved lighting unit assembly which is adapted to be assembled to a panel from one side thereof and serviced from the other side of the panel. The invention is herein described in the form of a rear light assembly for an automobile but other uses for the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
It is common practice in the art of automotive wiring to provide the rear lights of an automobile by mounting a housing in a rear panel from the exterior of the vehicle body. These conventional housings have a plurality of enclosures, each of which is adapted to contain a lamp bulb. The lamp bulbs are mounted in sockets which are directly attached to a portion of the electrical harness of the automobile. At the time of assembly, and after the housing has been mounted in the panel, the harness is positioned adjacent to the interior side of the panel and the individual lamp sockets on the harness are mounted in the housing so that each lamp bulb is located at the optical center or focus of its respective enclosure.
This procedure for providing the rear lights on the automobile has given rise to several problems. For example, since the lamp bulbs are contained in sockets which are part of the wiring harness, it is necessary to provide some slack wire in the portion of the electrical harness which extends past the housing in order to permit manipulation of the lamp socket during assembly insertion of the bulbs into the housing and during subsequent servicing as for example, when a bulb must be replaced. Such handling of the bulb and the accompanying movement of the wires in the harness can result in damage to the harness; for example, the electrical connections between the conductors and the bulbs might be disturbed or broken while a bulb is being replaced. Additionally, the slack wire which is in the trunk of the automobile adjacent to the rear panel thereof is sometimes engaged and pulled while cargo is being loaded into the trunk thereby giving rise to another source of damage to the harness. It should also be mentioned that the assembly procedure itself is awkward and unsatisfactory for the reason that each of the many bulbs required for the rear lights of the automobile must be individually and selectively inserted into the housing, a procedure which is time-consuming on an assembly line and subject to errors in bulb placement.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a completely pre-wired lighting unit assembly is provided comprising a housing and a plurality of conductors which extend neatly along one portion of the housing, the conductors being relatively taut and without a significant amount of slack wire. The ends of these conductors are attached to terminals in a multi-contact harness connector which need only be coupled to a complementary harness connector on the automotive harness to complete assembly and wiring of the unit during movement of the vehicle along the automotive assembly line. The conductors extend through a plurality of tap connectors mounted on the housing, one tap connector being provided adjacent to each lamp bulb site. The tap connectors contain contact tap terminals which are selectively connected to the connectors and which extend towards, and engage, contact terminals in a bulb holder connector. The bulb holder connectors have a bulb mounted therein and can be individually removed from the housing without disturbance to the conductors which are adjacent to the bulb sites.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved lighting unit assembly. A further object is to provide a lighting unit assembly for the rear lighting requirements of a vehicle. A further object is to provide a lighting unit assembly which is completely prewired and assembled and which can be electrically connected to a harness by coupling a single harness connector on the lighting unit assembly to a complementary connector on a harness. A further object is to provide a lighting unit assembly in which the individual lamp bulbs are mounted in bulb connectors which are individually removable from the assembly without disturbance to the conductors in the assembly.